Abduction Of 3 Girls A Hoax, Police Report

Miami — A report that three teenage girls from West Palm Beach were kidnapped at gunpoint was a hoax to cover their part in an armed robbery of a young man they set up, police said Tuesday.

Police said Jorge Beltran III, 18, of Key Biscayne drove to Virginia Key Beach late Monday to meet with three girls, ages 15 through 17, and was attacked by two males who pepper-sprayed him and threatened him with guns.

The suspects and the girls then took off in Beltran's car and in the car the two men had driven to the scene. Beltran reported the incident.

Police who scrambled though the night to find the three girls said they learned the trio was working with the two men, one of whom was arrested Tuesday along with two of the girls.